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Andrea Fortina was born in Novara in 1960, into a family containing generations of doctors and pharmacists.
From childhood, he studied drawing and painting, learning recipes and techniques for preparing pigments and painting media kept by his family for at least four centuries.

He primarily received a musical education, and from ages seventeen to thirty, lived in Asia while devoting himself to the study of Islamic and Buddhist art.
He studied the processes of painting miniatures, calligraphy, and Ney in Istanbul with the handwriting expert Baba Farid Kizilkalpoğlu. He also studied the manufacture of dyes and designs of antique carpets, and learned about the manufacture of pigments and dyes in the Indo-Buddhist world.

In 1990 he moved to Rome, choosing to devote himself entirely to painting and perfecting the study of materials and ancient techniques. He made a conscious decision to use only the media, paints, and varnishes taught to him from the historic knowledge he gained both from his travels and his family history.

In 1992 he graduated in Counselling at the 'Gestalt Institute' of Florence. Since 1993 he divided his time between Spain and Italy.
Between 1994 and 1995 he devoted himself to the study of the art of Velázquez and of Spanish painting. In 1996 the Gallery Salvat Barcelona presents his personal oil paintings.
In 1998 his painting "Portrait of Tipografo Mariti" is selected and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London and at the Art Museum Aberdeen (Scotland), under the BP Portrait Award.

One of his works is exposed to the Library by the Senate, Milan, during the exhibition "Un libro in maschera" in 2008. The same year, Megna Gallery of Via del Babuino, Rome organizes a solo entitled "Suspended Hours."

He began studying the technique of Cliché-verre and 2009 on behalf of Librería Antiques Porta Venezia, Milan, illustrated a valuable edition of Sense, Boito, with four runs on original salted paper. His works have been used as cover illustrations for ten various publications in Italy and abroad.
Works primarily as a portrait painter.

September 2007 the gallery Venti Correnti Milan organizes the solo exhibition "Emersion" which would be also hosted in Oleggio (Novara) in the Municipal Palace Bellini.
February 2006, commissioned by the newspaper Il Foglio, performs a series of eight portraits of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi published weekly in large size.
March 2006 wrote the lyrics and participated as a musician in the realization of radio "Studio in the form of a rose" composed by Lucia Ronchetti for the German National Radio.
In the spring of 2006 he participated with several paintings in the exhibition "K as in Kafka" at the castle of Linardié in Senouillac-France, where he was given a whole room for exposure.
September 2006 presents the Roman personal "Rites Night" thirty nudes painted on carte slate.

March 2004 staff on "Islands" in Rome in July 2004 with a large triptych participates in the exhibition "Labyrinths" to Beaugeancy - France.
December 2004, Fortina participates in the exhibition "Pequeño Format" at the Galeria Ignacio De Lassaletta, Barcelona-Spain.
October of the same year at the Museum Complex S.Micheletto exposes a series of large screens paintings collected in a solo exhibition entitled "Portable Spells." Teaches during the first "Daimon" in Rome and participated as a teacher in a project of Capannori finalized the creation of several murals by elementary school children.

Wrote the libretto of the Opera "Hombre de mucha Gravedad", inspired by Las Meninas by Velázquez music by Lucia Ronchetti. First performance Stuttgart, September 2003.
He holds several conferences in Spain on topics related to the technique and materials of painting.

July 2002 participates with four works in the show "Les du Kafka Metamorphosis" at the Musée de Montparnasse in Paris. September 2002 teaches at the VII International Course of Painting and Sculpture in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

In September 2001 he has taught at the VI International Course of Painting and Sculpture in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. In October 2001, he participated with four paintings in the show "La fin du livre" at the French Cultural Centre in Tokyo, Japan.
December 2001 shows twenty works to EnArte Madrid. In February 2002 surveys and begins the restoration of an old painting studio in the center of Rome.

January 2000 illustrates the covers of all the novels of D. Pennac the Spanish edition (Grijalbo Mondadori-). In February 2000 he gives a series of lectures at the University La Sapienza in Rome on "Painting and Medicine."
May 2000 participates in the Art Expo in Barcelona, with thirty oils and drawings. In June 2000 ending eight engravings to illustrate the novel "The fugitiva de San Benito" of Chufo Llorens Cervera, Ediciones B, Barcelona.

In 1999 the Cultural Center Cembalo Borghese in Rome organized a personal exhibition of portraits from life inspired by the characters of "The Tempest" by W. Shakespeare. November 1999 Solo exhibition of oil to Salvat Gallery in Barcelona.
In December 1999 participates in the collective "Figure" S Studio Gallery in Rome.